Intel, QuTech Collaborate to Make 2-Qubit Silicon Quantum Chip

Dutch quantum computer research company QuTech on Wednesday announced a partnership with Intel to unveil its first-ever programmable two-qubit quantum processor on silicon chips. This innovation is expected to offer a breakthrough in “large and extensive calculations”. The qubits can be controlled electronic signals, and silicon has been used due to its nature of causing little disruption.

According to a blog post by QuTech, scientists performed the Deutsch-Josza algorithm on the new two-qubit quantum chip. This algorithm helps determine whether a function is odd or even. The Grover-Search algorithm was also performed, which curates the right answer in one go from an unsorted set of options. “In order to be able to execute more complex algorithms, we will develop silicon quantum chips with more qubits, both in the Delft cleanrooms and in industrial cleanrooms with our partner Intel,” said Lieven Vandersypen, Professor at QuTech.

While this might not be the final product, it certainly is an important milestone towards creating chips that can carry out scalable quantum calculations. All we know currently is that the qubits are indeed controllable with reliability, and operations are possible using this kind of a setup. Apart from that, the current concept is based on merely two qubits; a bigger combination is required to solving more complex and extensive calculations.

Intel is not the only major component manufacturer in the world to show interest in quantum computing. CEO Satya Nadella, at Microsoft’s Ignite Conference in September last year, had announced plans to build a quantum computing ecosystem sometime in the future.